Ability of Small Communities to Afford Construction of Wastewater Treatment Facilities

摘要

The report is part of the National Network for Environmental Management Studies under the auspices of the Office of Cooperative Environmental Management of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The study investigates whether small municipal dischargers can afford to construct wastewater treatment facilities to meet secondary standards. Officials in seven Utah communities were interviewed and each community's financial data was reviewed to: characterize the wastewater treatment needs of the community; describe the community's financial condition; evaluate community financial options; assess community 'ability to pay'; and identify market constraints. It was noted that a lack of population over which projected costs could be spread negatively affects a community's ability to afford construction of needed wastewater treatment facilities. Consequently, the point at which a project becomes unaffordable to a community is dependent on population, as well as a series of additional factors, including, but not limited to: (1) the reqired local contribution to project costs; (2) the economic state or fiscal strength of the community; (3) community opportunities to attract outside investors or raise additional revenues for the proposed wastewater treatment project; and (4) viable opportunities for the community to decrease project costs.